Music creator economy: recalibrationThe music creator economy has been long in the making but was thrust into the wider music industry’s limelight with the Covid lockdowns triggering a surge in new creators. As with any bubble, many creator tools companies saw their ensuing surge flatten post-lockdown. The market is now settled into a steadier, organic growth pattern, but this lockdown cohort of creators is transforming the music creator economy. The effects, however, will be felt much more widely. Their new needs, expectations, and aspirations will be seen not only in the way they make music but also in how they navigate their careers. The music creator economy is one of the driving forces of the Bifurcation process turning one music industry into two.

This rise of this new generation of creators coincided with structural fissures beginning to manifest in the traditional streaming economy. Streaming has been through a number of cycles with creators: 1) distrust; 2) enthusiasm; 3) royalty dissatisfaction; and now 4) apathy. Our latest music creator report, which presents data from MIDiA’s latest global music creator survey, shows that progressively more creators are starting with lower expectations for streaming. Their royalty expectations are already so low that this is no longer a pain point for them. Instead, they are becoming critical of streaming’s ability to further their careers, focussing on the medium’s closed door between them and their fans. Today’s creators want platforms where they can build high value, smaller fanbases, rather than low value, large-but-anonymous audiences.

Here are a few highlights from the report:

Tip of the iceberg: The traditional music business only sees the smallest segment of the music creator economy – the around seven million Artists Direct that self-release onto streaming via distributors like DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, and Amuse. However, this segment is the smallest component of the base of music creators, and it has been growing more slowly than the share that upload directly to social platforms for a number of years. Though the growth rates for non-DSP and Artists Direct were much closer in 2024 than 2023, a growing share of non-DSP are only uploading to social platforms. MIDiA’s 2024 survey found that a quarter of music creators upload directly to user-generated content platforms like TikTok without using a distributor or label

Long-tail imbalance: Despite the democratisation social and streaming have driven, streaming is still dominated by big artists, with less than three percent of artists accounting for more than nine tenths of all streaming royalties. What’s more, the top 0.009% has increased its share since 2017, so it’s little wonder the long tail is losing faith in streaming. Two-tier licensing is only going to grow the imbalance and represents a closing of the door on the long tail by the music industry establishment. It’s a case of ‘if you can’t join them, beat them’

A new generation of creators: Creators with less than five years’ tenure represented close to half of all music creators in 2023. This wave of creators, swelled by the lockdown cohort, brings with it a different set of needs, expectations, and aspirations that will shape tomorrow’s music business. It is a generation that values speed and results from their creation; and control and autonomy in their careers

New expectations: This new cohort of creators is driven by making the best music they can and moving people with their music, even if that is only a few people. They want creative fulfilment and high-quality fan bases rather than large-scale, anonymous audiences. They are thus gravitating to SoundCloud, YouTube, and TikTok – places they can engage directly with fans

Different tools: These newer, younger creators are also prioritising different tools and workflows, spending their time with Splice, Beatstars, Label Radar, and FL Studio. While older, more established creators opt for the likes of Cubase, Pro Tools, and Native Instruments

The report provides detailed data on these themes and much more (reasons for using secondary DAWs, AI, workflows, income splits, user profiles, etc). If you want to understand where today’s music creators are at and want to go, have a read of our report “Music creator survey | Recalibration”!

Future Music magazine is closing after 32 years: “Sadly, things change…”Future Music, the UK-based music production-focused print magazine, has released its last-ever issue.
The publication, which is owned by Future PLC and contributes material to Future’s online platform MusicRadar.com, was one of the longest-standing music technology magazines on the market.
It launched almost 32 years ago, in the autumn of 1992, and has published a monthly magazine ever since. Future Music is also responsible for some iconic music technology YouTube videos, including Avicii’s viral breakdown of Dancing In My Head and Martin Garrix’s Animals.

Future Music magazine was accompanied every month by a selection of samples and free software, which it says went on to “become bonafide classics.” Each issue also reviewed a selection of new synths, plugins and studio gear, and offered tips and advice to musicians of all levels. MusicTech knows of artists such as Chromeo, Danny Byrd, Gary Barlow and Swedish House Mafia who would regularly read FutureMusic.
The publication announced its closure in a Facebook post, which reads:
“Future Music issue 414 is on sale now, which we must acknowledge with a heavy heart will be the final issue of the magazine…For our final issue, we wanted to leave you with a selection of tried and tested mixing advice to help you nail that final mix. To that end, we’ve curated some of the most timeless and essential advice from our team of experts.
“Sadly, things change, and the concept of a print publication focused on something as forward-thinking as music technology has become an increasingly difficult proposition in recent years.”
Although the print magazine is ceasing publication, the writers and reviewers of Future Music will continue working on MusicRadar. The online platform of MusicRadar is home to a plethora of Future PLC’s music-focused publications, including Computer Music, Electronic Musician, Guitar World, Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar Player, and more.
A source has also informed MusicTech that Future will be closing ComputerMusic and GuitarPlayer magazines.
In 2022, Future Music’s YouTube channel was renamed to MusicRadar Tech and continued publishing similar content.

FM’s statement concludes: “If you are a subscriber to FM, please don’t worry – our subscriptions team will be in touch with you directly to confirm that you will be refunded the remainder of your subscription term within 7-10 days of this final issue.
“For now, all that is left is for us to say a huge thank you to all the team members, writers, photographers, contributors and collaborators who have helped to make Future Music over the past three decades. And of course, to express our gratitude to everyone who has read, subscribed-to or supported FM in that time.”
Read more music technology news.
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FINNEAS explains why he’s given Billie Eilish “the bare minimum of stuff” in her new recording studioFINNEAS has got his sister and creative collaborator Billie Eilish started with a studio set-up so she can continue developing her production skills – but he’s purposely left it pretty basic.
FINNEAS has produced for Eilish for the entirety of her career, famously helming her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? from their bedroom.

READ MORE: “I really love when something feels like one piece and is cohesive”: Why Billie Eilish prefers album to singles

Now, he’s revealed that he’s giving her the tools to develop her own production talents, but he’s kept it simple for the moment.
“I’ve been setting up Billie’s recording studio for her so she can do home production without me, because she’s very good at it!” he tells Guitar.com. “And it’s funny, I’ve been giving her, like, the bare minimum of stuff, just so that she learns it all. Y’know what I mean? I’m like ‘Listen, I could give you all the stuff that I use now, but it took me years to even have a use for it. And, if I give you this basic thing, it’ll make sense to you right away.’”

Finneas previously revealed that he taught Eilish to comp vocals so she could record alone while making her recent album Hit Me Hard And Soft. 
“She has such a good ear and I’m just a puppet when it comes to comping her vocals because she’s so meticulous,” he says. “And I can comp a vocal, no prob, I’m doing it forever. But she got better and better at knowing like, ‘I like this take and I like this word from this, taking like this word’.”
“And so I was just like, well, let me teach you how to do this. It’s not that hard. And so I taught her how to record herself and how to comp herself.”
“[Sometimes] I’d get a call to come downstairs, she’s like ‘something’s wrong come downstairs and fix it’,” he continues, “but one of the reasons I did it is because I’ve always recorded alone and there’s stuff that I am just not brave enough to do in front of somebody else. It’s like I know I’m her brother but…”
The post FINNEAS explains why he’s given Billie Eilish “the bare minimum of stuff” in her new recording studio appeared first on MusicTech.

TikTok Music Shuts DownTikTok Music is set to shut down worldwide by the end of the year. Keep reading to find out why this is and what this means for artists on the. Continue reading
The post TikTok Music Shuts Down appeared first on Hypebot.

Musicians battle Climate Change: Join the ‘Be Cool!’ CampaignMusic Declares Emergency US and The ClimateMusic Project have joined forces to help musicians battle climate changes with the launch of the “Be Cool” campaign. Learn how artists and fans. Continue reading
The post Musicians battle Climate Change: Join the ‘Be Cool!’ Campaign appeared first on Hypebot.

Lake People launch G103-D-4 Lake People have announced the release of the G103-D-4, a Dante-enabled dual stereo headphone amplifier.

Rode announce RODECaster Video This production console combines advanced video switching, recording, and production capabilities with professional-grade audio tools.

13 companies from YC Demo Day 1 that are worth paying attention toUnsurprisingly, AI companies dominated the day, with startups looking to apply the technology to problems like estate planning and automating clinical trial data.
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Financial institutions are experimenting with Bitcoin-backed lending: LednLower interest rates and accelerating crypto adoption are spurring more financial institutions to try Bitcoin-backed lending. 

Grammy winner Eve sells rights to Iconoclast in eight-figure deal"Eve’s contributions to hip hop and popular culture are unparalleled," said Olivier Chastan, founder and CEO of Iconoclast
Source

Robert Kilduff appointed Chief Financial Officer of Universal Music Group NashvilleExec brings over 30 years of experience in financial leadership, strategic financial planning, operations, and corporate development.
Source

Afro house: What it is and how to make music in the genre
Acclaimed DJ and producer The.Wav offers insights into the sonic characteristics, artists, and production techniques behind Afro house.

What to Watch Out for Before You Sign a Record DealYou just got offered a record deal. What are some red flags you need to look out for before you sign the deal?
The post What to Watch Out for Before You Sign a Record Deal appeared first on Hypebot.

A DaVinci Screw-Cutting MachineIt’s not news that Leonardo DaVinci was somewhat ahead of his time, and over the centuries many of the creations in his sketchbooks have been created and proved quite functional. The guys from the YouTube channel How To Make Everything have been looking at one such sketch, a screw thread-cutting machine. At first glance, it seems a little flawed. Threads are hard to make by hand, and you can see that this thread-cutting machine needs two identical threads operating as a reference to make it work. However, as the guys demonstrate, you can create threads by hand using simple methods.
Starting with an offset blade mounted on a block with a hole through it, a dowel can be scribed with a starter thread. This can then be worked by hand to cut enough of a groove for the application. They demonstrated that the machine was viable using nothing but wood for construction. A metal blade was mounted, and some preload force was applied to it with a spring. The dowel to be cut was loaded, and the machine ran back and forth enough times to create a very nice-looking screw thread. And once you’ve made two identical threaded dowels, you can use them to upgrade the machine or even build a second. Once you have a repeatable way to make such threads, all kinds of applications become more accessible. Need a bench vice? No problem now!
Whilst the demonstration doesn’t precisely follow the plans laid out by the master inventor, they aren’t all that clear on the cutting tool after all, it’s nice to see people still wanting to build his ideas, and we’ll certainly be following along.
If you like these “from scratch” builds, you’ll like this other one. Leonardo’s work wasn’t just about machines; he was also very interested in science. Here’s a recreation of his demonstration of gravity as a form of acceleration.

Thanks to [Keith] for the tip!

Reviving a 15-Year Old Asus eeePC With Modern MX LinuxWelcome back to 2010 and the Asus eeePC Netbook, Seashell series. (Credit: Igor Ljubuncic)
It’s often said these days that computers don’t become outdated nearly as quickly as they did in the past, with even a decade-old computer still more than capable of handling daily tasks for the average person. Testing that theory, [Igor Ljubuncic] revisited the Asus eeePC which he purchased back in 2010. Although it’s not specified exactly which model it is, it features an Intel Atom N450 (1 core, 2 threads) running at 1.67 GHz, 1 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 and a 250 GB HDD, all falling into that ultra-portable, 10.1″ Netbook category.
When new, the netbook came with Windows 7 Starter Edition, which [Igor] replaced with Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04, which was its own adventure, but the netbook worked well and got dragged around the world on work and leisure assignments. With increasingly bloated updates, Ubuntu got replaced by MX Linux 18, which improved matters, but with the little CPU struggling more and more, [Igor] retired the netbook in 2019. That is, until reviving it recently.
Upon booting, the CMOS battery was of course empty, but the system happily continued booting into MX Linux. The Debian update repositories were of course gone, but changing these to the archive version allowed for some (very old) updates. This raised the question of whether modern Linux would even run on this ancient Atom CPU, the answer of which turned out to be a resounding ‘yes’, as MX Linux still offers 32-bit builds of its most recent releases. A 15 minute upgrade process later, and a 2 minute boot later, the system was running a Linux 6.1 kernel with Xfce desktop.
As for the performance, it’s rather what you expect, with video playback topping out at 480p (on the 1024×600 display) and applications like Firefox lacking the compact density mode, wasting a lot of screen space. Amazingly the original battery seems to still deliver about half the runtime it did when new. All of which is to say that yes, even a ‘low-end’ 2010-era netbook can still be a very usable system in 2024, with a modern OS.